Comcast buys G.E.'s stake in NBC Universal

New York, Feb 14 (IANS/EFE) Cable and media giant Comcast said it was buying General Electric Co.'s remaining 49 percent stake in media company NBC Universal for $16.7 billion.

Under the terms of the deal, NBC Universal will acquire GE's properties in Manhattan's iconic Rockefeller Center and CNBC Global Headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, for about $1.4 billion, Comcast said in a statement.

The deal is being funded with $11.4 billion in cash, $4 billion of subsidiary senior unsecured notes to be issued to GE, $2 billion of loans and $725 million in subsidiary preferred stock that will be issued to GE, Comcast said.

"We didn't have to do this now and we chose to do it," Comcast chairman and CEO Brian Roberts said in an interview Wednesday on CNBC's "Squawk Box" program. "If actions can speak louder than words, the action is we're bullish on the businesses we're buying."

Philadephia-based Comcast is the largest cable television operator in the US and has been focusing for the past few years on becoming a content provider.